Spring has not sprung just yet.......

Friday say me grab a much needed day off from the day job so I thought the time was ripe for packing my new Black Diamond Speed 55 pack with my overnight kit and hitting the hill.  I figured the weather would be okay........you'd think I might have learnt a few lessons over the year!!  It was raining when I got out of the car and the sky did not look promising.

I threw my kit on and headed for Kings Seat.  The going underfoot was pretty wet to start with but things started to get better as I gained height.  But with height came the wind and it was a cold one.  I made the top of Kings Seat in pretty good time but by then the wind was getting up to gale force and the rain was constant. 

I pushed on towards Byrehope Mount and by this time it was micro navigation time which was good because it's be a long while since I had to practice that and it was a good route to do it on because there was any number of escape routes.

I dropped over Byrehope Mount, took stock and decided to head back the way I had come and along the way I set myself up on a couple of compass bearings just to practice that a bit.  Again the route was good for this kind of practice.  Always better to practice when you feel really safe , than have to do it for real when things go pear-shaped.  I was also testing some new gear I've bought over the last few weeks and I will be blogging reviews of this in due course.  Needless to say my new Haglofs hard shell jacket did the business.

So a good three hours out for some much needed fresh air.